On this episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, I talk with Chris Hagstrom of the South Bend Cubs.

The Chicago Cubs moved their Midwest League affiliate to South Bend from Kane County in this last off-season. Chris talks about what attracted the Cubs to South Bend. South Bend has done an excellent job with branding and their logos. Chris explains the thought that went into some of this development.

Chris also describes some of the really creative things South Bend is doing with infographics to share in-game information with fans through their social channels.

We also get into the 2015 South Bend Cubs. Gleyber Torres is the highest ranked prospect with the Cubs here to start the season. Chris also talks about the phenomenal start that Cael Brockmeyer has had with South Bend this season.

On this, the 311th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we start things off by talking about the 4-2 road trip the Cubs have just finished.

Many of these games were close, half of them were 1-run games. We have a strange and alien feeling during these close games. It’s something called confidence. We discuss the positives and negatives of these close games.

Fans are having fun watching this team and it’s easy to see that the players are having fun, too. Not only can we see the chemistry on the field, but Twitter has allowed players to communicate with fans and at the same time, display their excitement about the team. #wearegood

In just a matter of a few days, the Cubs have called up their top two prospects. Late last week, it was Kris Bryant and then late on Monday, the Cubs called up Addison Russell to join the club on Tuesday.

On this episode, we’ll talk about how bad we’ve been at predicting when the front office will call up prospects.

We look at how this team will line up defensively and how the pieces will fit together. We also take the opportunity to (again) evaluate this team and reconsider our expectations for the 2015 Cubs.

Kris Bryant…folks! The Cubs called Kris Bryant up right at the deadline to hold the extra year of control and Wrigley Field was buzzing this weekend. Bryant looked out-matched in his first game and then recovered in his second game by seeing a lot of pitches, working counts and ultimately taking walks.

On this episode, we talk about the Kris Bryant call-up, including the timing and the causes that led to it happening when it did. We also discuss what this means for the 2015 season. At the end of series with the Padres, the Cubs sit a game over .500 and the line-up looks pretty nice. What will the rest of the season look like?

Addison Russell is next in line and we walk about how he’s doing in Iowa and when we might see him in Chicago.

The Cubs are facing quite a few injuries right now and it’s having a pretty big impact on the team, specifically the bullpen. We comment on this last week in Cubs baseball.

We answer a listener question, read some internet muscle flexes and Kurt gives us a Scary Stat of the Week.

While the Cubs have only played one game since our last episode, we have several Cubs topics to discuss. We talk about the disappointing start to the series in Colorado the Cubs inability to hit with runners in scoring position.

We answer several listener questions, give a Scary Stat of the Week and read some internet muscle flexes.

In our first mid-week episode, we talk about the first two games of the 2015 season.

The Cubs dropped the Opening Night game to the Cardinals. We talk about Jon Lester's performance and the national dialogue on his unwillingness/inability to throw to 1st base. The Cubs managed to get runners on base, but just couldn't knock anyone in. They finished the game 0-13 with runners in scoring position. We also can't avoid talking about bathroom-gate.

Tuesday's night's Cubs/Cardinals game was canceled due to weather.

Wednesday's game was more pleasurable for Cubs fans. Strong pitching performances by Jake Arrieta and Lance Lynn kept the offensive production down, but the Cubs managed to capitalize on Cardinals mistakes and win the game 2-0. The bullpen has looked very strong in the first two games already.

The Opening Day rosters are set for the minor league teams in the Cubs organization. We go through and highlight some of the most interesting names on each team.

The photo caption contest returns. Here is the photo and listen to the episode to hear the entries and the winner.

The 2015 MLB season is here and we’re making our predictions on the 2015 Chicago Cubs.

We are running a sale on our t-shirts. Go to IvyEnvy.com/store and use the coupon code “2015” to save 20%.

This week starts up our 2nd weekly episode. It will be recorded on Wednesday evenings and available for your commute on Thursday mornings. The Daily Northside Recap also kicks off this week. You can subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher or listen at http://dailynorthsiderecap.com.

We had several listeners send us the topics they would like to predict. We’d love to hear your predictions. Leave a comment with the number of games the Cubs will win in 2015, or leave your predictions for every category. Here they are:

1. Date for Kris Bryant call-up.2. Kris Bryant HR. Over/under – 273. Bryant HR off the new jumbotron. Over/under – 5.54. MLB games in 2015 played by Javier Baez – 1305. How many runners Baez will strand on base this season.6. Addison Russell’s call-up. Before or after September 1.7. First player to hit a HR off the new scoreboard in LF.8. Number of Cubs HRs to hit the new jumbotron.9. Number of Cubs All-Stars. Over/under is 2.10. Number of Cubs closers. Over/under is 4.11. Cubs extra-innings wins. Over/under is 3.12. Number of pitchers used in 2015. Over/under is 24.13. Hector Rondon saves. Over/under is 30.14. Total Ivy Envy iTunes reviews.15. How many no-hitters Arrieta takes into the 7th or later. Over/under is 4.16. Positions played by Alcantara. Over/under is 4.517. Number of times Maddon uses a pitcher as a pinch hitter. Over/under is 19.5.18. Number of players to hit 25 man roster this year. Over/under 39.5.19. Number of Edwin Jackson starts.20. Which number will be higher: David Ross HRs or Edwin Jackson starts.21. Starlin Castro batting average. Over/under is .29022. Number of Anthony Rizzo HRs. Over/under is 30.23. Who leads the 2015 Chicago Cubs in HRs?24. Miguel Montero WAR for 2015. Over/under is 3.5.25. Number of times Jon Lester throws to first base.26. Number of ejections for Joe Maddon. Over/under is 2.527. Dugout hot feet. Over/Under is 18.5.28. Number of bandwagon jumpers.29. Total regular season Cubs wins in 2015.